missing title

They ran the thing, so I think we're good.

I think we're good.

Good?

They ran their thing.

Confirmed?

Good?

Is Seattle Channel ready?

Hello?

Okay, good.

All right, good morning.

The April 16th, 2026 meeting of the Safety, Transportation, Engineering, Projects, Sports, and Experiences Committee will come to order.

It is 9.38 a.m.

I am Rob Sacca, chair of the committee.

Will the committee clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Foster.

Here.

Councilmember Kettle.

Councilmember Lin.

Vice Chair Rink.

Present.

Chair Saka.

Here.

Chair, there are three members present.

Thank you.

Let the record reflect that Councilmember Lind has been excused, and I note that it must be Seattle Public Schools' spring break week with a slim quorum here, so all good.

Well, if there's no objection, colleagues, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing and seeing no objection, the agenda is hereby adopted.

And good morning, members of the public, colleagues.

Thank you for joining us at today's meeting.

Today is actually a really important day in the history of transportation.

on April 16, 1867. Wilbur Wright was born in Millville, Indiana.

Wilbur was an American aviation pioneer who, alongside his brother Orville, invented the very first successful airplane.

So happy 159th birthday, Wilbur.

Generally, when we talk about transportation policy, aviation and aerospace is something that is generally within the domain of the federal government in terms of regulation, maybe exclusively, but it is still an important mode.

It's still an important mode that supports our travel.

It's an important mode that supports our local economy with Boeing and Blue Origin and the like.

And this is from a fellow Air Force veteran.

All right.

Now, on a much more serious matter, on Sunday evening, a few days ago, two drivers were tragically killed in a wrong-way head-on collision on State Route 509 between South Cloverdale Street and South 112th Street.

The victims have been identified in the media as Jadon Parnell, age 21, and Kevin J. Ward, age 71. The incident occurred on a state highway within the limits of the city of Seattle.

And although it occurred on a WSDOT asset, State Route 509, and therefore doesn't count against our Vision Zero data, WSDOT owns that, it did occur still nonetheless within city limits So I would like to take a moment to observe a brief moment of silence for the deceased.

Traffic safety remains my highest priority for this committee.

For that reason, I have called upon the city auditor to conduct a performance audit of our city's Vision Zero program.

Now our city has made historic investments in traffic safety through the recent voter approved levy.

And as chair of our former transportation committee at the time that oversaw that process, I'm proud that this council was able to provide a record $160.5 million in dedicated funding for Vision Zero alone over the course of the eight year levy.

And when we look more broadly at related safety investments in the levy, such as the $193 million for pedestrian safety, $133.3 or .5 million for bicycle safety, and $403 million for road safety and modernization, the total impact is much larger.

In fact, a conservative estimate actually puts the combined traffic safety investment at approximately $890 million over the eight-year lifecycle of the levy.

That means nearly $1 billion over eight years is being directed towards making our streets safer and saving lives.

Put another way, close to half of the $1.55 billion levy is focused on traffic safety outcomes.

And this more, slightly more accurate $890 million figure doesn't even factor in the other categories of investments in the levy that could potentially impact safety on our roads, whether directly or indirectly.

Indeed, the $890 million level of investment would specifically exclude bold, transformative investments we've made in the levy to do things like making our bridges safer and more secure, connecting people safely to transit, addressing safety issues and in our traffic signals and operations network, investing in cargo freight mobility by making vital industrial zone safety upgrades, and installing more critical safety lighting for pedestrians, our most vulnerable users, which, by the way, benefits all modes and all users by improving visibility for everyone in the affected area.

No doubt there's a strong safety nexus in these investments as well.

Shouldn't some of these be counted as Vision Zero and road safety investments as well, at least in part?

Regardless of how you choose to count the beans or slice the data, these numbers reflect a clear and unified policy choice by our city.

Seattle is prioritizing safety at scale and making one of the most significant long-term investments in safer streets in our city's history.

Vision Zero is about saving lives.

And while we are seeing some real progress The tragic reality remains that too many people are still dying and suffering serious injuries on our streets.

This audit will help us take a hard look at what's working, what's not, and where we need to sharpen our approach to prevent further tragedies on our roads.

Now, I want to commend the Seattle Department of Transportation for their extensive work in addressing Vision Zero to date.

Again, we're seeing some real progress.

The department has undertaken some laudable efforts to help us achieve our Vision Zero goals, including by conducting its own internal reviews of the Vision Zero program.

I also want to make clear that the audit I am calling for will be an outside assessment.

An outside or external audit is generally considered more reliable and credible than an internal only review because it provides true independence, ensures an unbiased assessment of data accuracy, regulatory compliance, and risk.

By comparison, internal only audits often focus primarily on operational improvements and are managed by internal department staff, all of which can contribute to the perception or misperception that the internal review process is not truly objective.

Now our city auditor's office has as its core mission to conduct independent, in-depth analysis and develop recommendations to improve city programs and services.

We know performance audits are an important accountability tool.

They evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of city programs to determine if they are achieving their intended objectives and if they could possibly be doing better.

Launched in 2015, the Vision Zero program has an ambitious goal to end traffic deaths and serious injuries on our city streets by the year 2030. This program, at the end of the day, is all about saving lives.

And so I'm calling for this audit to make sure we are saving as many lives as possible.

And I want to emphasize, make crystal clear that the outside audit I'm calling for is not intended to replace the department's own due diligence and periodic internal reviews designed to drive further enhancements, further improvements.

I refuse to venture down the counterproductive path of finger-pointing and casting aspersions.

It's not about that.

I believe this department is doing their level best.

And I know they're making every effort to successfully implement Vision Zero.

That said, we also know that outside audits do offer additional benefits, like increased perceptions of unbiased objectivity, enhanced credibility with stakeholders, especially members of the public, and strengthened verification and fidelity of data.

That's why outside audit is intended to supplement, not replace, SDOT's existing efforts and work in full harmony together The audit is expected to commence in the fall.

It's already in the city auditor's queue.

The findings and specific recommendations that will flow from this audit will be presented at a future steps committee meeting.

Because of this audit, I am confident that we will be able to strengthen shared accountability, improve transparency, and drive clarity.

This audit will better position our city to actually achieve our ambitious Vision Zero goals and save lives.

So stay tuned.

All right, that said, we have a very robust agenda this morning, which includes a street renaming resolution, a traffic safety briefing, and a department overview presentation.

As a quick minor housekeeping note, we would ordinarily have put the safety briefing first to be more consistent with our safety first mantra.

in our steps committee, but to align schedules for today's important agenda items, we've landed on the following order.

First, it's my distinct honor to hear a proposed resolution sponsored by Council President Joy Hollingsworth that would rename a portion of South Jackson Street after Dr. R.L. Manaway Sr.

What an impressive community member.

For our second agenda item, our partners from SDOT will be providing our quarterly traffic safety briefing update.

The presentation that we will receive will include a review of 2025 traffic safety data and an overview of the 2026 Vision Zero projects.

Finally, agenda item three is an overview presentation on Waterfront Park.

The Office of the Waterfront, known more formally and officially as the Office of the Waterfront Civic Projects and Sound Transit, is a new addition to the expanded purview of this committee this year.

So I'm excited to have the opportunity to hear from them today.

And I anticipate this to be the first of many presentations we'll have from our partners at the Waterfront in the months and years to come.

Thank you.

All right, we will now open the hybrid public comment period.

Public comments should relate to items on today's agenda and within the purview of this committee.

Clerk, how many speakers are signed up today?

Chair, we currently have four in-person speakers and two remote speakers.

All right, thank you.

Each speaker will have two minutes.

We will start with the in-person speakers first.

Clerk, can you please read the public comment instructions?

The public comment period will be moderated in the following manner.

Speakers will be called in the order in which they registered.

Speakers will alternate between sets of in-person and remote speakers until the public comment period has ended.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of their time.

Speakers' mics will be muted if they do not end their comments within the allotted time to allow us to call on the next speaker.

Public comment period is now open.

We will begin with the first speaker on the list, Denise Gaffney.

First of all, I am Denise Gaffney.

I'm here about the Pike Street hill climb and Western Avenue.

I've lived in the area for 36 years and always in the same place.

on the hill climb.

But I don't want to waste my two minutes, so I'm going to give you my presentation.

I represent concerned residents of Hill Climb Court, 1425 Western Avenue, who have for some time experienced safety and security issues With regard to the Pike Street Hill Climb, the stairs that connect Alaska Way to Western Avenue have the Pike Street right of way.

The stairs provide the most direct access between the Pike Place Market Elevator and the Aquarium and Waterfront Park.

A lack of security patrolling the area has led to general deterioration, and we are witnessing drug transactions at our north exit gate, camping, and vandalism.

Our building has been broken into many times.

Cruise ship tourists and visitors voice their dismay regarding the unsanitary conditions while they are getting their first introduction to the city and as they walk to the market.

With the world soon to descend on Seattle with the coming FIFA games, it becomes even more urgent.

There is no apparent regular maintenance on the hill climb to address litter, encampments, drug paraphernalia, and human waste.

The issue is that there appears to be no security patrols on or near those stairs or Western Avenue outside of the Pike Place Market Historical District, especially after hours.

Neither the waterfront management nor the city seem to be responsible for the area and its maintenance largely ignored.

While both the Pike Place Market and the Waterfront Park have security patrols, the stairs and surrounding Western Avenue do not.

How might we get attention to this issue and a permanent resolution where the stairs are treated as an extension to the Waterfront Park, which it is?

Thank you, ma'am.

Appreciate it.

Our next in-person speaker will be Robin Manaway.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Robin Manaway, and I'm speaking on behalf of the delegated Resolution Street, renaming on behalf of my father, Reverend Dr. Robert L. Manaway, Sr.

For 43 years, he has missed games, family dinners, teacher council meetings, and everything on behalf of serving the church and our community.

And that isn't to downplay or to be remorseful or anything of that sort, but just to simply show gratitude and to express his love and care and commitment that he has had towards this community for 43 years.

Outside of Dr. Samuel Berry McKinney, he has been the longest standing pastor in the Central District.

So I just figured that it would be a great pat on the back for him, and just to show that us, the community, and me, his namesake, his daughter, that we appreciate all the time that you have shared just right here on the corner of 28th and Jackson, just by simply renaming you.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next in-person speaker will be Gordon Padelford.

Good morning, council members.

My name is Gordon Padelford.

I'm the executive director of the Seattle Streets Alliance, and I come to talk to you about Vision Zero.

I don't think we necessarily need to wait for the fall to know what the auditor is going to say, which is that 80% of our pedestrian fatalities are happening on multiple lane arterials.

and when we're talking about, you know, this has been an 11-year program now, we're still talking about the same streets.

We're still talking about Rainier, Aurora, MLK, Lake City Way, Fourth Avenue South, and the ingredient that's been missing has not been a lack of ideas or commitment from SDOT, it's been a lack of political will to tackle those really hard changes.

Because we know those are gonna be difficult conversations about reducing the right-of-way, narrowing, planting trees, adding bike lanes, adding bus lanes, whatever the solutions are, those challenges are difficult, but they're gonna keep our neighbors safe.

They're gonna make sure everyone gets home to their loved ones.

they're gonna live up to our commitment to keep our fellow citizens alive as they go about their daily business.

So when I think about the top line that's gonna come back from that auditor's report, it's gonna be something we already know, which is that there are some big rocks, and we all need to put our shoulders to those rocks to move them.

And lastly, I would just say, You know, this council has an opportunity to invest in that push.

Last fall, there was an opportunity to invest all of the camera funding back in Division Zero.

This council did not take that opportunity.

And in the spring supplemental or the fall budget, there's an opportunity to think about reinvesting that funding in the Division Zero program.

So thank you all for your commitment.

I know we're all aligned on values, and I really appreciate this council's commitment to keeping everyone safe.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our final in-person speaker, I may be mispronouncing the name, I believe it's Brandon DeBlatter.

Council Member Saka announced an audit on Seattle's Vision Zero program.

I would still like to know why.

At least 18 people were killed when they were just walking or rolling by motor vehicles last year.

That should be plenty of evidence that we are not doing enough to reduce the number to zero in the next four years.

The problem isn't that we don't know what to do, it's that we lack the political will to do it.

Why was the Union Street bus lane saved only after street advocates noticed the city was bulldozing bike infrastructure in preparation for opening it back up to cars?

Why were speed cushions quietly removed from the Lake Washington Boulevard designs?

Why was the recently completed Airport Way bike lane reduced to a size that would prevent two cargo bikes from passing each other?

And perhaps most famously, why did it take citywide outcry, several comic strips, and a t-shirt campaign to save protective infrastructure on Delridge and 22nd Ave Southwest?

Even then, for some reason, we had to add another intersection to a perfectly functional corner, yet another opportunity for a pedestrian to be hit by a car.

All these examples have something in common.

Each time, a car advocate talked directly to the city, and the city compromised on safety in an attempt to make streets more convenient for cars.

If we were to actually be serious about achieving Vision Zero, we need to act immediately using what we already know.

We already know that slowing motor vehicles and restricting the movement saves lives.

We need to simply do this everywhere, focusing most of our attention on high-risk areas.

We need a team of people that immediately responds to each additional death from motor vehicles in Seattle by creating infrastructure in that area to prevent a death from ever happening again.

SDOT has made a half-hearted effort at East Pine and Bellevue, the site of Liliana Moreno's death, where they installed permanent daylighting in one corner where neighbors and safety advocates placed DIY barriers and cones.

However, all corners of that section need daylighting.

This is a gap where the city can do more to make the streets safer.

Instead of tasking people to do another study, see how we'll process anyone, we should task people to actually change our streets to slow cars.

We need a department of transportation that builds infrastructure for walking, biking, and transit first.

Right now, they build for cars first.

Every safety suggestion is dismissed or delays with concerns about convenience for car drivers.

We need to prioritize pedestrians and bikes.

Thank you.

Save Kirby.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dale Blatter.

I'll just say dope t-shirt, would love one myself.

Appreciate your comments.

Thank you.

All right, we will now move on to the remote public commenters.

Our first remote speaker will be Carlo Alcantara.

Carlo, please unmute your phone, star six, and you can begin.

Hello, my name is Carlo.

I'm a resident of D5.

I help the Aurora Reimagine Coalition as well.

I wanted to comment today on Vision Zero.

As we're nearing the 2030 deadline that we have established to end traffic-related deaths and serious injuries, we're unfortunately not on track to reach this goal.

So my ask here is that the city establish a rapid response to Vision Zero.

Councilmember Saka, you're the proclaimed or self-proclaimed pothole king, which I'm sure we can all appreciate, getting potholes filled and making our drives, our rides, our walks a bit less bumpy.

So I would like to encourage you as well to become the Vision Zero king.

For our rapid response, we need to do something similar to what we've done with potholes, define a timeline of 72 hours to resolution of safety when a death or serious injury occurs.

That means we do quick builds, we install semi-permanent street reconfigurations for safety with an outcome that will prevent a death or serious injury at the site where one has occurred from ever happening again.

We have just under four years remaining to achieve the Vision Zero goal, and we're in crisis territory now.

So we can do this, we must do this, or we won't meet our deadline to meet Vision Zero and end traffic deaths and serious injuries.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Our final in-person speaker will be Irene Wall.

Irene, please unmute yourself via star six and you can begin.

Good morning, council members.

My name is Irene Wall.

Last evening, I sent you an email regarding the new big black blot that recently emerged blocking the SEPA protected view from Victor Steinbrook Park.

I ask you to read that email and take immediate action to request the appropriate departments, SDOT, Seattle City Light, and SDCI, to resolve this matter by getting rid of the black monolith.

Most of you are too young to remember the big view battle that was resolved 25 years ago, ending with an agreement to redesign the Waterfront Hotel to protect the view from Victor Steinbrook Park in light of both SEPA and Shoreline Management Program policies, which have not changed.

So why were those lessons lost when somehow the strangely enhanced utility pole was erected directly into the legally protected viewscape from Victor Steinbrook Park.

This is not the first time the city has ignored its obligations to protect public views.

Make the effort to get rid of that terrible blot on the Victor Steinbrook Park landscape.

Please do it today.

Thank you.

Chair, we've concluded public comment.

All right, thank you.

We will now move on to our first item of business.

Will the clerk please read item one into the record?

Agenda item one, resolution 32195, a resolution providing an honorary designation of South Jackson Street between 28th Avenue South and 29th Avenue South as Dr. R.L. Manaway Sr.

Way.

Thank you, and first off, I note that Council President Hollingsworth has graciously joined us.

Thank you so much.

She'll introduce this resolution here momentarily, but it looks like our presenter has joined us at the table.

Thank you, welcome.

Please introduce yourself, and then when ready, share your presentation.

Thank you.

Good morning, Council Members.

Amanda Allen with Central Staff.

Brendan, I wonder if you can help me, my Google search on how to get this to share.

Control L to do the full screen.

All right, we'll make this work.

I'm here to talk to you today about honorary street designations.

Oh, my cute graphic isn't showing up.

How sad.

All right.

Just a little background about honorary street designations for context of the resolution that's before you today.

There are no formal rules, actually, around honorary street designations.

There are practices that we have grown accustomed to.

And starting with if we want to have an honorary street designation, A single block is identified, and there is a resolution that's adopted by the council.

Council has a champion of the resolution, and in this case, the resolution you're receiving is sponsored by the council president.

The actual legal name does not change.

So mail would still go to the legal address.

This is truly just an honor.

And the person or the group requesting the designation would actually pay for the installation of the signs on either end of the block.

And SDOT estimates that this is about $2,000.

So that group would work with SDOT to ensure that the name was correct and that it was installed where they were hoping.

Again, you're missing my wonderful graphics, for which I included alt text.

So the resolution before you proposes an honorary designation for the block south on South Jackson Street between 28th Avenue South and 29th Avenue South, proposes the name of Dr. R. L. Manaway Sr.

And Reverend Dr. Robert L. Manaway Sr. is currently the senior pastor of Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in Seattle.

As his daughter mentioned in public comment, he has worked tirelessly for over four decades promoting residential and outreach services throughout the Pacific Northwest.

So that's the end of my presentation.

If there are questions about the process, I'm happy to answer them.

I'm sure Council President is going to share more about this esteemed gentleman.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Ms. Allen.

Appreciate the overview.

And yes, we'll now turn it over to Council President Hollingsworth to introduce and talk about the resolution.

Awesome.

And thank you, Mr. Chair.

And I also want to thank your office for your leadership on this as well and then working together with ours.

Once we asked and had information from the community about this, you said anything, whatever is needed.

So I just want to thank you all for your leadership and collaboration on that.

Thank you so much for the presentation.

Colleagues before us here today, you heard Pastor Manaway's daughter come and speak, but has been the senior pastor of Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in the Central District for a very long time.

And since 19, excuse me, since 1983, the congregation has more than 1,700 members during that time.

He's a respected leader in the community, a trailblazer in the Pacific Northwest, Pastor Manaway, serves in numerous civic roles, including the National Baptist Convention of USA, where he sits on the board of directors and serves as a Far West vice president for the Congress of Christian Education.

And I know I have a bunch of things that Pastor Manaway has done, but I'm gonna just speak from the heart.

just real quick.

We know that the cultural institutions of the Central District are very important to people.

And as some people often know, like, you know, people see, oh, it's just a sign or this is like more for that because this is a beloved member of the community that has been there through food access, who's been there helping with youth access as well.

has served the community faithfully and has been a leading rock and also has been a leader in the community for so many different families during their faith journey, but also just as a community, a community center.

Tabernacle Church has been a staple in the community for a very long time.

And as you heard his daughter say about Reverend McKinney is the second a longest-serving pastor at the same church in our Central District.

And that is huge, because a lot of churches, after a lot of the gentrification happened, went south.

So they went to Kent, they moved, as we call the Kentral District, Kent, Federal Way, they moved south.

This church is still there.

And the congregation, even though some of them might not live in the Central District, they still come back.

And so I'm really grateful that this is up for resolution.

And working with their office, it has a ton of community support.

and looking forward and hopefully all the council members can come there during the celebration and we'll make sure that we get that invite to everyone as well.

So thank you all, really appreciate the opportunity to be here and to speak on behalf of Pastor Manaway as well and his congregation.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Council President Hollingsworth.

Got a chance to learn a little bit more about Dr. Manaway as part of this journey and an esteemed, highly respected member of the community.

Of course, as Council President noted, senior pastor at Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church.

Also serves as president of the North Pacific Baptist Convention, overseeing churches across Washington and Oregon.

co-host of the gospel radio program called the Truth Radio Ministry, reaching listeners across the Pacific Northwest.

So much, so much more we, as council president noted, we heard from a family member at public comment, but what an incredible, life and legacy that he continues to live.

And so great that we're able to do this small thing to pay it forward and honor those that came before us.

So, all right, cool.

Well, thank you.

Do any of my colleagues have any questions or comments?

All right, hearing, seeing none.

Do any of, or excuse me, I move that the committee recommend adoption of Resolution 32195. Is there a second?

Second.

It is moved and seconded for recommendation to adopt Resolution 32195. Are there any final comments?

Hearing and seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the recommendation to adopt Resolution 32195?

Councilmember Foster.

Yes.

Vice Chair Rank.

Yes.

Chair Saka.

Aye.

Chair, there are three votes in favor and zero opposed.

All right, thank you.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation that the council adopt resolution 32195 will be sent to the April 21st, 2026 city council meeting.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

We will now move on to our second item of business.

Will the clerk please read item two into the record?

Agenda item two, traffic safety update.

Review of 2025 data and overview of 2026 Vision Zero projects.

All right, thank you.

Will our presenters please join us at the table?

Looks like they're doing that now.

When you're ready, please introduce yourselves and begin your presentation.

Before we get there, let me quickly address and respond to some of the great public comment that we had today.

First off, the opportunity, the purported opportunity that we had last year to invest in Vision Zero, invest more in Vision Zero, what we used that money for was for sidewalks.

I would argue that adding sidewalks to schools to support our children is a Vision Zero investment.

But reasonable minds may disagree on certain things.

But I really do appreciate the public comment.

I want everyone to know I listen attentively and pay close attention.

And there are some great insights shared, including from some of the remote callers, jotted down some notes.

So stay tuned.

All right, welcome again.

Please introduce yourselves and begin the presentation.

I'm the Chief Transportation Safety Officer and City Traffic Engineer with Seattle Department of Transportation.

So, thank you so much.

Good morning, Chair Saka, Vice Chair Rink, and Council Member Foster.

Thank you for inviting us back to speak about and provide an update on the Vision Zero program.

As I do with all my presentations, I'd like to start with our department's vision, values, and goals.

We at Seattle Department of Transportation have a vision that Seattle is an equitable, vibrant, and diverse city where moving around is safe, fair, and sustainable.

All people and businesses can access their daily needs and feel connected to their community.

Specifically within the Vision Zero program, we are especially committed to the goals or values of safety and equity.

Now, I also want to take a moment to hold some space and acknowledge the lives that have been significantly altered because of traffic violence on our streets since the beginning of the 2015 Vision Zero resolution and program here within the city.

I ask all of us in this room and everyone who is listening to this presentation and our entire city to commit to taking action to improve safety outcomes on our streets.

So diving into the presentation, this is a chart that I have shared in my January update on the Vision Zero program.

This is a chart that reflects the lives lost on our Seattle streets since the start of our Vision Zero efforts.

And for the year 2025, we have slightly revised the number of lives lost on our city streets upwards from 25 that have reported in January to 27, as I'm showing right now.

Just weeks ago, we were informed by the Washington state about a fatality on Rainier Ave that involved a southbound vehicle jumping the curb and hitting a pedestrian on the sidewalk near Rainier Ave and South Charles Street.

This was a delayed fatality.

We got to learn through the Washington state as we match our police crash records, and that's how we got to learn about this fatal outcome, even though we were informed of this particular collision through when it happened late last December.

Now, another...

fatality that we chose to count this time around involves an e-scooter riding on the sidewalk at First and Blanchard.

This particular fatality, it was determined that the cause of death was an aneurysm.

However, we are not at this point sure if the fall that from the shade e-scooter resulted in the aneurysm or the aneurysm caused the rider to fall.

We are unsure.

So to be conservative, we chose to include in the total number of lives lost statistics, and if we get further information in the future, we could revise it downwards, but to be conservative, we chose.

So that said, there have been a total of 27 lives lost on our city streets last year.

Now, in various categories, we have seen the fewer lives lost, but one thing that, as I pointed out in my January presentation, that stands out rather a little bit alarmingly is the number of people walking.

Now, after seeing several years of steady declines, last year we have seen a sharp increase in the number of deaths for people walking and we are making every effort to understand why that has been the case and what could we do more to improve safety for people walking.

This is a new chart from, for this presentation that has not been included in the January presentation, is the number of serious injuries that we have seen on Seattle streets.

Now, compared to 2024, we have seen pretty similar serious injuries on our streets.

Most categories, they were about the same, but we saw a slight increase in the serious injuries for bicycles and e-scooters.

That went up to an annual total of 57, and of those 57, we know that at least 16 of those involve e-scooters.

And when we looked at the police traffic collision reports, at least three of those 16 e-scooter collisions made reference to a shared mobility device that they were using at the time of the collision.

Now, we have seen a downward trend in the total number of serious injuries that involved people walking.

But again, those levels still seem relatively higher.

So just a quick look at a snapshot into how things are going this year.

Now, compared to an three-year average, In the first quarter of this year, we have seen fewer fatal collisions and lives lost and also fewer serious injuries on our streets.

I do want to caution that this is very preliminary data and as the year progresses and we get more information, these numbers could be revised.

but I do want to indicate that we are seeing, at least we have seen thus far in Q1, fewer fatal and serious injury collisions on our streets compared to the last three year average.

Now, the next three slides are the same slides that I have chosen to include in the January presentation.

This is a quick representation of our high injury network in our city.

I do want to draw attention to the red and orange lines that you're seeing on these maps.

And these are the, within the high injury network, these are the two categories of street segments that have the highest are the second highest priority in terms of priority.

The reason why I'm trying to call this out is because that more than 80% of our fatal and serious injury collisions occur on this high-injury network, and within those, more than half of them occur on these two highest priority segments within the high-injury network.

So in the North Seattle, Aurora Avenue continues to be quite challenging for the city.

And I do know that we at the department are working on a much longer term and more significant changes to the corridor.

And within the Vision Zero program, we have also taken some interim actions or short-term measures, such as implementing leading pedestrian intervals, widening crosswalks, building medians, and so on, to provide some short-term safety improvements along the corridor.

Now, in the central part of our city, downtown continues to be a challenging location, where we are seeing a number of streets that are represented on the high-injury network.

and we are looking at what else we could do to further safety goals within the downtown.

And going kind of like southward, the Rainier Avenue and Fourth Avenue continue to be on the high-engineered network with the highest priority.

And again, we here in the department have several projects that are in the works on Rainier Avenue to change some of the crash trends that we are seeing.

Now, I do want to emphasize before I go into the various Vision Zero projects that we have, this particular program has been undertaking.

I do want to share and emphasize that we are absolutely committed to the safe systems approach.

We believe that is the right paradigm for approaching safety within our city and within the department.

And all our efforts, both within the Vision Zero program and across the wider department, are all aligned within the elements of the safe systems approach and tied to the principles of the safe systems approach.

And specifically within the Vision Zero program, as I've shared previously, we do take a three-pronged approach.

We do rely on a responsive approach to safety based on the collision trends that we are seeing from the police reported crash data.

But we also are investing in the proactive safety countermeasure, proactively in safety countermeasures that we know have a proven track record in improving safety.

And as a third prong, we always try to leverage any opportunities that we have with ongoing projects or upcoming projects where we could invest in safety with our capital project partnership.

Now, before I go, before, Before I go into highlighting some of the 2025 Vision Zero projects, I do want to emphasize that safety is a common thread in every program, project, policy, and action undertaken by the department.

Vision Zero is one of several programs that has safety as its core value.

So the projects that I'm going to show you here are not a comprehensive listing of all safety efforts that are being pursued by the department, but a small snapshot of what is specifically happening within the Vision Zero program.

And even within the Vision Zero program, it's not a comprehensive accounting of every single project that the program is pursuing, but rather a highlight of the kinds of projects that we have completed in 2025 and what we are going to be doing in 2026. Now, the levy has provided an historic opportunity, thanks to all of you and the residents of our city for supporting the levy and giving an historic opportunity to invest in safety outcomes.

Specifically for the Vision Zero program, we have four levy deliverable goals.

One is to Invest in safety upgrades on up to 12 corridors across the city.

Invest in at least 40 high-collision locations within the city over the next 80 years.

Invest in arterial traffic calming on 50 corridors, and complete at least 280 intersections with leading and pedestrian drills, or what we call the pedestrian head start signals.

Now, this particular slide, I want to show you briefly about how we have done in year one of our levy.

Now, the list of projects that you're seeing here are projects that were actually completed in the calendar year 2025. We have invested in the North 130th Safety Corridor to improve walking and biking, connecting Ingram High School along the corridor and revising the corridor footprint with reduced number of lanes and making sure that corridor is ready for a future connection to a light rail station that's going to be coming up soon.

We have completed investments and eight high-injury, high-collision locations across the city, and completed three arterial traffic calming corridors, one of which, Council Member Osaka, is in your district on 14th Avenue South, when we had that tragic fatality at 14th Avenue South and South Henderson last year.

So all these are aimed at improving the safety outcomes and reducing speeds on our network.

We have also completed implementing pedestrian head start signals at 45 different locations and we continue to invest in implementing no turn and red restriction at 100 intersections last year.

Now, looking forward to our construction projects in 2026, we have lined up a tremendous number of projects that would be going into construction, even within this challenging construction window that we have with the FIFA World Cup coming around soon.

We are going to be starting or completing construction on South Henderson Street, on Renton Ave and Spring Street within the city for our three safety corridor upgrades.

We have finished design and are ready to implement construction on 18 different corridors for arterial traffic calming.

These include corridors such as MLK and Rainier Avenue Airportway, to name just a few.

And we are also going to be investing in 27 additional high-collision locations across the city this year.

Continuing on the construction projects in 2026, we have recently invested in a number of safety treatments along the Aurora corridor, and we will be doing that again this year, too.

We will be completing a new pedestrian signal at North 137th Street and Aurora Avenue North, which has been a high-collision location for a number of years at this time.

And to continue on our proactive investments, we are going to continue our investing in and implementing NOTAN and RED at another 108 intersections this year.

to pursue enhanced crossings at six additional locations.

Now, this is an additive effort to an entire program within the department that is dedicated to purely investing in enhanced pedestrian crossings.

So Vision Zero is multiplying, is acting as a force multiplier to that particular program in investing in pedestrian crossings.

We will be updating several signals with implementing protected left turn facing to minimize conflicts between turning vehicles and people crossing at intersections and pursue another 30 to 80 intersections for the pedestrian head start signals this year.

Now, to share kind of like a little bit on what projects that we'd be working on design this year, these involve Rainier Avenue, Highland Parkway South, 12th Avenue, and South Othello Street.

You know, a lot of these locations are in D2 and in South Seattle because that is one of the most challenging districts that we have in terms of both the safety needs and the equity priority across the city.

And we continue to guide our efforts both based on data and on the equity priority within the city.

One of the intersections that are allowed to highlight is the Rainier Avenue and Cornell Avenue South.

This is an intersection that's very near to the city limits as people come from Renton into Seattle, and that's kind of like the first time where we are introducing them to the citywide speed limit of 25 miles an hour.

At this particular intersection, we are developing a concept for a roundabout.

Roundabouts have a proven track record of improving safety outcomes and reducing speeds on our roadways.

Actually, almost 25 years ago, my master's thesis was on roundabouts, and I have had a long history of working with or researching roundabouts and their effectiveness.

And in addition to that, we are also kind of like working diligently on the Safe Streets and Roads for All grant.

It is one of the largest grants that we have received.

We have received over $25 million, approximately about $25 million from the federal government, and we are investing several million dollars of our own money to pursue a number of pedestrian safety improvements and bike safety improvements across the city.

We are now actively working on designing a number of projects within that grant and will soon be taking them to construction.

We have up till 2029 to finish all the projects that were identified in the grant and fully complete what we have undertaken several years ago.

and Vision Zero program in particular continues to be very effective in receiving a lot of state grants to improve safety outcomes.

These grants are really vital for our program because they act as leverage for our own local dollars that we have here within the city and within the department and within the program to pursue additional safety outcomes.

This particular grant involves investing in additional pedestrian head start signals and no-turn unreads at about 40 to 50 intersections across the city.

So we are excited to get started on that particular project this year.

So one thing that I would say to wrap up my presentation today is that the vision zero program always looks at a three-year cycle when we are looking to pursue projects.

We always think about what projects can we construct in a given calendar year.

and what projects can we design in this year so that they can be taken to construction next year, and what projects can we plan this year to take them into design next year.

So we're always thinking about three years ahead and trying to line up all our pipelines, the construction pipeline, the design pipeline, and the planning pipeline, so that we have a really providential cycle of projects that are constantly in the works, and that we can implement safety improvements in as many locations across the city as possible.

Thank you so much for your time, and I'd be happy to take any questions.

Thank you, Mr. Namani.

Really appreciate you and all you do, and then this presentation today.

Very, very helpful.

Colleagues, I have a few questions that I'm going to kick off to frame the conversation today.

and then I welcome any comments, questions from you all.

First off, what, so earlier in January during our last presentation, we talked about some potential solutions to addressing, better addressing Vision Zero and the influence that impairment, our impairment laws have on us achieving our goals and specifically there was a a proposal in Olympia last session that I supported, I think our city supported as well, to raise the blood alcohol limit, or excuse me, lower the blood alcohol threshold from 0.8 to 0.5, I think, making it in line with Utah, maybe one or two other states.

Did not pass this year, unfortunately, but all that's to say, Mr. Namati, what is your view today of what the city needs to be successful with better realizing and achieving our ambitious goals of Vision Zero.

Broadly speaking, the one thing that I would kind of like It's not about kind of like what additional things that we are doing, but it's a lot more about what we are already doing, what we know already works, trying to implement proven safety countermeasures more widely across the city, investing in and thinking about safety in every project program and action.

And specifically, kind of like I would say that Investing in our high-injury network, looking at some of the corridors that have been historically been on the high-injury network and maybe carry a disproportionate share of the fatal and serious injury collisions, trying to look at those kinds of corridors, be it the Aurora avenues of the world or the Rainier avenues of the world, and trying to implement as many projects as possible to fundamentally shift the dynamics on those corridors is vitally important.

I'd also say that an equally important action is something that we have already taken a systemic approach towards is managing speeds on our arterials.

This could take any number of potential solutions from looking at narrow lanes, looking at redesigning the corridors, implementing artillery traffic calming measures.

But doing that at scale, managing speeds are probably kind of like, you know, some specific actions that we can take to seek our different outcomes with our safety.

Thank you.

frame this conversation about the role of enforcement in traffic safety.

At the March 3rd Levee Oversight Committee meeting, a committee member, one of my Levee Oversight Committee colleagues presented some rather intriguing data about the potential correlation between traffic enforcement and traffic fatalities.

she displayed a chart demonstrating that there was a 90% decline, apparently, in traffic infractions and a 111% increase in traffic fatalities between 2010 and 2024. If true, this would be an overall correlation of negative 0.83.

In other words, as infractions go down, fatalities increase.

Now, smart colleague, I haven't been able to independently verify that, the evidence there and the research that was shared, but the conclusions shared do strike me as something that seem to make sense.

So we just love to, and we know that, automated camera enforcement is one form, one of the 40 plus effective countermeasures for addressing safety.

But we'd just love to hear from your perspective, what is the role of enforcement in traffic safety?

I believe there is a role for enforcement in traffic safety, but as you know, we kind of like in the Seattle Department of Transportation do not have direct say in the various enforcement activities.

So I kind of like leave that to my colleagues within the Seattle Police Department.

But you're right that automated safety cameras is one of many tools that we could use to manage speeds on our arterial network.

And it has been proven to be a reliable safety countermeasure, both nationally and locally.

What we have seen is that where we have invested in implementing safety cameras within school zones, we have seen better and safer outcomes within those school zones.

So it is a tool, but I do want to emphasize that as an engineering department, we have more of a say and control in how we can plan, design, to operate and maintain our streets.

And that is going to be kind of like the primary focus for us in trying to influence not only the road user behavior, but also the safety outcomes that we are going to see.

And that's where kind of like we would be emphasizing.

But yes, safety cameras do have a role to play in the overall enforcement strategy, and it has proven to see some positive outcomes.

Thank you.

Final question.

So we know that the practice of daylighting intersections has proven to be an effective safety engineering countermeasure in cities like Hoboken, New Jersey.

Very, very successful in their Vision Zero equivalent program.

Not a fair at all apples to apples comparison because of the huge differential in density between Seattle and Hoboken.

However, there are higher level insights and learnings that we can gather from leading jurisdictions like Hoboken as well.

We also know that there is no one size fits all approach.

But how do you envision being able to leverage daylighting across the city going forward?

And what are some typical barriers to implementation of daylighting in areas of greatest need?

Thank you so much for daylighting that question.

No pun intended.

Intersection daylighting has a proven track record of safety.

And that is one of the reasons why, within the Vision Zero program, we have chosen to make it part of our proactive safety investment strategy.

And we have dedicated a certain portion of our funding every year to invest in intersection daylighting efforts at a variety of intersections across the city.

I believe working with our shared mobility program, we are pursuing intersection daylighting at 200 different intersections this year, and it continues to be part of our strategy because we have seen we have implemented that intersection daylighting improves sight lines and gives people more time to react to the various conflicts they might be facing at intersections.

Now, parking too close to an intersection is against both state and local laws.

and intersection daylighting actually can take many shapes and forms and how we enforce that from doing and implementing curb bulbs to just implementing signs that reinforce that restriction.

So we pursued intersection daylighting in a number of different ways to enhance safety at intersections and it is a key part of our proactive safety strategy within the Vision Zero program.

Awesome.

Well, thank you.

We'll now turn it over, excuse me, to my colleagues for any comments or questions from your perspective, starting first with Vice Chair Rank.

Thank you, Chair Salka.

And I want to begin my remarks today in a similar fashion as you did when beginning this meeting, in a similar fashion as the department did in beginning this presentation, just centering the human component of all of this.

And this conversation feels very different when you know someone who is represented in slide four of this presentation.

We are talking about our neighbors that we've lost.

Each of these losses having rippling effects through our communities, through families forever altered.

And I just want to center that before going into my questions because this is a heavy topic and one that certainly my office has heard a lot about, particularly with the traffic fatalities that have happened this year alone.

And so to that end, in the aftermath of these events, people are desperate for answers to understand what went wrong.

And so I would love if the department could outline what aftermath response looks like for the department when there's a traffic fatality.

Can you walk us through the department's response and your interactions with Seattle Fire Department, Seattle Police Department?

Absolutely.

Thank you so much for asking that question.

Typically, on the day of itself through our Transportation Operations Center, we get notified of an incident on our network.

So that is the first time that I and several leaders within the Seattle Department of Transportation learn of what is happening on our streets and we share that information widely with city officials.

Usually, within a week or two, the police department would send us the police traffic collision report that gives us a little bit more information about what what were the various circumstances and who did what at a particular location that resulted in this fatality.

So that is the police traffic collision report that gets shared with us a couple of weeks later.

Actually, within a day or two, they do send us a quick email saying that, hey, there was a fatal collision that happened, but that doesn't have a lot of information other than a two-line or a three-line narrative about the particular collision.

So after we receive the police traffic collision report, our process involves going out to the site and documenting existing conditions.

We are looking for a review of the particular intersection, looking at what were the geometrics, what were the traffic control conditions, what were the lighting conditions at the particular location.

And we document all of that and we take any immediate maintenance related items, we take care of any maintenance related items at that particular location.

Now, that is kind of like where our current process stops, but we are in the, in conversations actually, I have I had to still kind of like brief my chain of command with the Department of Transportation to see what additional things could we do to more rapidly respond to and do some additional quick build improvements at a location where a fatality has occurred.

Now, we are cautious as we proceed with those kinds of actions today because there is not only a safety, there may be some safety needs at that location, but we are also cautious about the potential liability concerns that come with the various actions.

For years, all our safety investments and actions have been guided by a trend in collisions that we are seeing at a particular location and how we have prioritized our limited safety dollars.

And I think that is still true, but we are also seeing further need to look at how we can respond to fatal collisions more quickly.

And that is something that we are actively working on and developing a policy framework to allow the department to do within the confines of the risk and liability associated with those fatal collisions.

Thank you for detailing that.

I think it's just helpful to understand behind the scenes what the department is up to following these incidents and really encouraging to hear that the department is considering areas for improvement as well.

I know we heard in public comment today just a desire for a community to feel like there's a felt response and see some type of action, but understanding it's not always that simple when we're talking about what kind of immediate actions we can take and sometimes the most meaningful action we can take to try and prevent future measures.

We're talking about a large-scale capital project that really is at the root of tackling kind of the built environment of that area.

So we'd love to continue that conversation about opportunities to improve that rapid response so we can really at least have clear communication with the public about how the department is responding and how we're grappling with this.

And building on this point with our Vision Zero projects, for the Vision Zero projects that we have completed, could you walk through what the department's current evaluation process looks like?

How are we evaluating that those investments are having some impact in improving safety?

Yeah, absolutely.

Be it a project that we have completed or a policy that we have implemented, we always go back and evaluate what the impact of that action has been.

For example, before we more widely implemented a 25-mile-an-hour speed limit, we have implemented that reduction in speed limit on specific corridors within urban centers and urban villages.

We have done some before-after analyses of that particular action, which clearly showed benefits in reducing not only the speeds, but also improving the safety outcomes as a result of that action.

We also do post-project evaluations, right?

One thing that comes to mind is the changes that we have implemented in North East 65th Street and the before-after study that we have conducted in analyzing how the safety investments and improvements that we have pursued as part of that corridor project actually improved in safety outcomes.

So we document these and we publish these reports online so that we can transparently show what the impact has been.

Now, I think we can do a lot more in the various actions that we are taking and the kind of post-evaluation that we could conduct for the various actions that we are taking and actually build that concrete data-driven results that we could leverage to do more of those kinds of improvements.

And that is one area I'd be working with my team to enhance our capabilities and do more of post-project evaluations.

Awesome.

And when we're looking ahead towards our upcoming Vision Zero projects, thank you for laying out what's going on for 2026. And I'm thinking about the rest of the levy.

And we know that there are additional projects, Vision Zero projects, particularly focused on our higher injury network.

As was mentioned earlier, we know where we need to be making investments.

It's just a matter of when we get the ball rolling on those.

And so my question is, what would it take for the department to consider front-loading some more of those major high-impact Vision Zero projects to earlier in the levy?

Probably kind of like...

It's probably going to be a conversation that I need to have with our department leaders, with Angie and others, and what measures we could take to expedite some of these larger projects that we are already considering.

For example, the Aurora corridor that we are working on, and what we can do to expedite that project while also pursuing some of the short-term improvements.

I'd say additional conversations and seeing what our department resources are, what we have committed thus far, and what flexibility we have within the work plans that various programs within the department are developing and working on, and how we can expedite as a broader conversation that I think we should have within the department.

Certainly appreciate that and look forward to that conversation with the department because we just simply have to make movement forward on addressing the challenges on the roads that we know are the most dangerous roads in our city, Aurora Avenue, Rainier Ave.

We just got to make that movement.

And so, Chair, hopeful that we can have that conversation with the department in future discussions on levy implementation plan about opportunities to front load some of that work so we can really start making those safety improvements.

And I'll I'll close with one final question.

And thank you, Chair, for indulging me.

Oftentimes, projects that propose big changes can lead to a lot of community input, perhaps folks who primarily rely on driving, who are perhaps prioritizing their own convenience over some safety improvements.

And so we've seen projects that have perhaps been watered down a bit at the detriment of keeping folks safe and non-drivers.

And so how is Estada ensuring that people can be heard in this work, but we're still prioritizing safety at the heart of this?

Thank you.

Again, community input is a really important aspect of any project development within any project development cycle within the department.

We want all community voices to be heard so that we can take the most comprehensive feedback in shaping our projects.

And sometimes this could lead to additional conversations And I acknowledge that, but that's the reason why we are, especially on kind of like corridors such as Aurora, we have kind of like a two-pronged approach.

As we are developing some of the larger wholesale redesigns of the corridor, we are simultaneously investing in short-term improvements.

In 2024, we did leading pedestrian intervals, wider crosswalks, no turn-and-ride intersections on Aurora, no turn-and-ride implementation on Aurora.

In 2025, we have done hardened center lines and built some medians to restrict certain movements at certain intersections.

We are investing in a new signal at 130th this year, and we are working on kind of like another signal for the next year, all on the corridor.

So I do kind of like think that community-wise, we have to develop our co-create projects with the community, and I really value the community input, but there are also opportunities to take short-term steps to make sure that we continue to progress on that safety journey for a particular corridor.

But that's probably kind of like the dual approach that I recommend taking on projects that are especially complex, that might need a larger community involvement in overseeing a more significant change to a particular corridor.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for that response.

And I think we all can agree we want to see movement on this.

And this is something we can absolutely address as a city.

So thank you for this presentation today and for answering my questions.

Thank you for the time, Chair.

Thank you, Vice Chair.

Any other comments, questions?

Council Member Foster, or yours.

Thank you so much, Chair.

And thank you, Mr. Namati and Mr. Laborde.

It's always a pleasure to have you all in.

And Vision Zero, as we all know, is an important priority.

And I'll start with just my own personal experience.

I think I've talked to both of you about this.

I was hit as a pedestrian on Rainier Avenue.

And maybe a block away from that same location that I was hit as a pedestrian, I was hit in a vehicle by another vehicle driving down the center lane.

and in that second accident, maybe about two years after that second accident, Estop put in some improvements with those center lane, I forget what they're called, they're medians essentially, and so that accident would no longer be possible because you can't drive in the center lane.

I really appreciate those improvements.

And I also know because of that personal experience and the data that shows us, and I want you to affirm that I'm correct here, I believe it's Rainier Avenue, MLK, 4th Avenue, and Aurora that are the streets that have the most collisions in the city.

Is that correct?

Yes.

Okay, thank you.

I was trying to find my old notes to make sure that was still right, so thank you for that.

And so just moving on from that, one of the things that I think is really important is, as you all have presented today, that we do have a lot of information on where we have the most accidents and the most fatalities in the city.

So one of the questions that I have for you, and I know, Chair, you opened up by talking about the audit, I want to make sure that, as we heard from a public commenter today, that the findings of that are useful in moving us forward.

So I wonder if you can sort of speak to information that the department doesn't have access to or information that it might be helpful to get a better understanding of through this audit process so that it is meaningful.

We have really good access to police-reported collisions across the city.

But we know and we do acknowledge that especially collisions related to bicyclists or collisions related to e-scooters may not always be reported to the police or have a police traffic collision report associated with them.

So we are fully aware of that data limitation and especially for e-scooters when the current police traffic collision report doesn't even have a field to mark and count an e-scooter collision.

Typically those are all kind of like in the narratives.

So we have been exploring kind of like beyond the data, police reporter collision data that we have to see what other data sets that we could leverage.

particular avenue that we are exploring and are allowed to continue to explore is SFD data.

While SFD data might not have all the fields that we would see in a typical police collision report, it still gives us the approximate location of the collision and where these kinds of responses are taking place within SFD.

and where they're responding to.

And that kind of information can be appended to the information that we already have in trying to guide some of our departmental and programmatic actions as they relate to safety.

Thank you for that.

I think that's really helpful.

And that's a great segue, actually, into one of my other questions, which is about the role of collaboration with other departments in ensuring that we're delivering Vision Zero.

So my narrative lead-in to that question is I know there was recently traffic fatality on Capitol Hill.

And one of the follow-up actions from my department, and I want to thank City Light for their fast response, was around removal of an old utility pole, for example, and ensuring that we have really strong sight lines in our pedestrian intersections.

Sometimes that is work that is driven by SDOT, but sometimes it's work that needs to come out of another city department.

So can you talk about how other city departments play a role in collaborating with you on Vision Zero?

Yeah, absolutely.

We have literally a standing monthly meeting with Seattle Police Department to go over the various data points and what they are seeing and trying to ascertain some of the collisions that are happening.

We similarly have a standing meeting with Seattle Fire Department to not only bring projects that are in the vicinity of certain fire stations and how they might impact emergency response, we try to get their feedback on various project designs and how we can better design to achieve our safety outcomes while also balancing the needs of the emergency department.

Now, on the same lines, we have a really strong collaboration with Seattle City Light because we here in the SDOT prescribe the lighting levels for various arterials across the city, but it is the City Light who actually implements these projects.

So these are just a few examples of the strong collaboration that we have with various city departments, all working towards the goal of improving safety outcomes.

thank you that's really helpful and do we know at this time if that and what I appreciate really about that answer is it gives us a sense of the intricacies of Vision Zero and you know we haven't even started to talk about the role of WSDOT and other state agencies I know that you all have been collaborating on a lot of really important work for example in the Judkins Park area as that new light rail station opens and so do we know at this time whether we'll be able to look at the role that other agencies play in the audit that was spoken about earlier?

It's an avenue that we could explore.

That is a really good example of how we have collaborated.

collaborated with WSDOT to improve the pedestrian crossings at the I-19 interchange with Rainier across those ramps.

That was a partnership project actually with WSDOT.

And WSDOT kind of like at the state level sets a lot of the engineering guidance and also kind of like works with the state legislatures legislators to pursue certain policy ideas that could be considered and become kind of like future state laws.

So we do have a significant collaboration with WSDOT, and we work on a number of projects, especially kind of like the larger projects like the Revive Wi-Fi or others, that relationship is very much intertwined in everything that we do, because there are kind of like washed out roadways that go through the city, and then we have a symbiotic relationship and impacts about what happens on the washed out roads that kind of like those effects carrying onto the city streets or vice versa.

So those relationships have stayed strong.

We collaborate with them at multiple levels to talk about project specific ideas or even pursue kind of like larger policy level ideas.

I personally work very closely with our state traffic engineer, Donko Chang.

As you all know, he has been my predecessor in this role, and I maintain that strong relationship so that we can talk not only about the things that we are working locally, but also kind of give him the feedback that I can leverage his position within the state to pursue some policy and project goals.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Councilmember Foster.

I'll close by addressing two more pieces of public comment that I heard.

All of it excellent and insightful.

We heard from a public commenter earlier an idea, a proposal that to better address Vision Zero, it's going to take more political will.

I don't disagree with that as a proposition.

But I would also argue that nearly $1 billion in traffic safety investments over the course of eight years, the council exercising its principal power of the purse to appropriate nearly $1 billion that voters generously approved over eight years, that is about as most of the political will as you can get.

That's obviously not the end all be all.

That's part why we're here today.

And then the inference was made that we need more bus lanes, bike lanes, pedestrian friendly improvements.

Yes, couldn't agree more.

But if the inference is that elected officials should somehow be responsible for personally approving, reviewing and approving every single safety project, every single design on our roads to address safety over the 84 square miles of our city.

I fundamentally disagree.

I'll just share personally, every time that I've intervened in specific design decisions hasn't gone too well.

Even when I've fought for immigrant and refugee communities, our kids, daycares, working families, some people have lost their natural minds.

Even when we landed on a compromise solution to save Kirby, still engenders passionate feelings.

And I get that, I understand that.

But in my experiences in this work, it's easy to espouse High-level priorities.

Easy to espouse value statements.

But if you ask anyone who's ever been at this dais or the mayor's office upstairs on the seventh floor, the devil is always in the details.

That said, addressing Mr. Paddleford's comment earlier, I really do appreciate the feedback.

I would love to learn more about what you specifically envision and how we could potentially bring that to life as a city.

I am genuinely interested in that.

It's been a little over a year since we last met personally, would love to connect and learn more.

Cause I know you're committed to this work and your organization as well.

And I appreciate your partnership and I appreciate your feedback.

I genuinely do.

The next thing I'll share is that great.

And there's a quick question lurking in this one, but we heard from one of the remote public commenters about king of potholes.

All right, be the king of traffic safety.

Well, we're all trying to be the kings, queens, royalty of traffic safety here.

It's a race to the top, by the way.

But 72 hour, they noted the 72 hour SLA service level agreement that we have to report or fill as a city, 80% of reported potholes within 72 hours.

And the last briefing we got on this, I think we're up to 85 or 90% actually we're achieving.

So we're above standard, which is great.

So the idea was that, why not have after a, And this was a concrete, specific proposal, which is very helpful in terms of crafting policy.

The idea was, why not have within 72 hours of a significant injury or fatality, 84 square miles, I don't know, and because of the latency and data, I don't want to speak for you, but I don't know if that's at all workable on the serious injury front, but 72-hour rule or some specified period.

We respond, start to make, or at least develop a plan to make, immediate remediations.

We know it can be done.

Last year along Fourth Avenue, the department in a heroic effort, heroic stretch effort, was able to make some much-needed repairs and safety upgrades to address bike safety on 4th.

We know it can be done.

You all have worked very closely with me to address some traffic safety issues in my council district, in South Park, along Alki Harbor Avenue, amongst others.

Can be done, but truth is, you guys cover 84 square miles of territory.

I view my job, I'm at my best when I'm empowering you all to be successful with the tree program, with the sidewalk program, with the bike infrastructure upgrade program, and then generally stepping out of the way and letting you tell me what you need, and then holding everyone accountable.

So the idea was 72 hours within a fatality, let's just say that, come make some initial repairs.

Much more complex than a pothole.

You gotta design, you gotta assess, then you gotta design, then you gotta implement.

That's complex work.

But can you just help us better understand what the department's typical response protocols for, let's just take fatalities, fatalities that exist today.

What's the department's typical response protocols for fatalities on our roads today?

I believe I previously answered probably a similar question from Council Member Rink about what our response to a fatal collision is.

Looking at that 72-hour number, sometimes we may not even have a police traffic collision report to fully understand the circumstances related to a crash.

But I do understand the underlying need that all of you are pointing out here is to have a more rapid response at locations that have had fatal collisions, and it is something that a proposal or an idea that we are still kicking around, I still don't have all the specifics to share with you, but it is something that we are closely looking at to see how we can more rapidly respond to fatal collisions or fatalities on our streets.

Right now, within, a couple of weeks of receiving police traffic collision report, we always follow up with site visit, documenting conditions, and identifying any maintenance issues that need to be addressed immediately.

And we are looking about how we can improve or what additional things that we could do to be more responsive to fatal collisions that occur at locations.

Thank you.

Look forward to learning more and working alongside you all to better empower and support your efforts, but really appreciate it.

All right, thank you.

We will now move on to our third item of business.

And I note that we are losing quorum at 11.30.

Our partners at the Waterfront, do you think you could deliver this I think it was about 15 minutes.

Do you think you can do it in 10?

Should we invite you back?

Yeah, let's table the third item because we're going to lose quorum anyway.

All right.

We'll welcome you back next time.

Let's see.

Do any of my fellow committee members have any final questions, comments for the good of the order?

All right.

Hearing no further business to come before the committee, we are adjourned.

It is 11.14 a.m.

Thank you.